Lisa Graves, senior counsel for legislative strategy for the ACLU in D.C., spoke at Town Hall last night along with John Dean.

They were both great, but I found Graves particularly good.

She went after Bush’s warrantless wire-tap program with calm (and even comic) aplomb. “He’s supposed to justify the case for a wiretap warrant in front of the FISA court,” she said, adding: “Um, thus the term warrant.”

She opened her remarks by explaining that the FISA (Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act) court—the panel of judges that approves wire taps on suspected terrorists when the NSA has probable cause (a pretty easy standard to meet)—is located just upstairs from the AG’s office in the Dept. of Justice. “All they have to do is go upstairs to get a wiretap approved,” Graves said. “And they can do that 72 hours after they initiate the wiretap.”

It was a funny image—the Bushies can’t be bothered to just walk upstairs and get the necessary approval. But then it got scary. Graves pointed out that the FISA court, stacked with judges appointed by Rehnquist, has approved an astronomical number of wiretaps since it came into existence in 1978 (I think she said 20,000 or 200,000 wiretaps)—while only rejecting 6.

She then asked a creepy question: “What does Bush want to do that this court wouldn’t approve of?”